Create Custom Tables in No TimeSPSS Custom Tables™ 17.0

Easily analyze and communicate

your results with SPSS Custom

Tables, an add-on module for the

SPSS Statistics product line

Share analytical results with decision makers

You often report the results of your analyses to decision

makers, colleagues, clients, grant committees, or others.

Building tabular reports, however, can be a time-consuming,

trial-and-error process. SPSS Custom Tables 17.0 enables

you to view your tables as you build them, so you can

create polished, accurate tables in less time.

SPSS Custom Tables, an add-on module for the SPSS

Statistics product line, makes it easy for you to summarize

your data in different styles for different audiences. The

module’s build-as-you-go interface updates in real time, so

you always know what your tables will look like. You can

add descriptive and inferential test statistics, for example,

and then customize the table so your audience can

easily understand the information. When your tables are

complete, you can export them to Microsoft® Word, Excel®,

and PowerPoint®, and HTML.

SPSS Custom Tables is ideal for anyone who creates and

updates reports on a regular basis, including people who

work in survey or market research, the social sciences,

database or direct marketing, and institutional research.

SPSS Custom Tables 17.0 is optimized for use with SPSS

Statistics Base 17.0. It includes such frequently requested

features as:

n An interactive table builder that enables you to

preview your tables as you create them

n Category management capabilities that enable you

to exclude specific categories, display missing value

cells, and add subtotals to your table

n Three significance tests: Chi-square test

of independence, comparison of column means

(t test), or comparison of column proportions (z test)

n Easy export of tables to Word or Excel for use in reports

SPSS Custom Tables is available for installation as client-

only software but, for greater performance and scalability,

can also be used in a client/server installation along with

SPSS Statistics Base Server.

Preview tables as you build them

SPSS Custom Tables’ intuitive graphical user interface

takes the guesswork out of building tables. The drag-and-

drop capabilities and preview pane enable you to see what

your tables will look like before you click “OK.”

You can interact with the variables on your screen, identify

variables as categorical or scale, and know immediately

how your data are structured.

To create a table, just drag your desired variables into the

table preview builder. You don’t have to write complicated

syntax or work with dialog boxes. And you can move

variables easily from row to column for precise positioning.

The table preview builder updates after every change you

make, so you can see the formatting effect immediately.

You can also add, swap, and nest variables, or hide

statistic labels, directly from within the table preview

builder. And you can collapse large, complex tables for

a more concise view, and still see your variables.

Customize your tables

Display information the way you want to with the category

management features in SPSS Custom Tables. Create totals

and subtotals without changing your data file. You can

combine several categories into a single category, for

example, for frequent top- and bottom-box analyses. You

can also sort categories within your table without affecting

the subtotal calculation.

Share analytical results with decision makers

Make your tables more precise, as you create them, by

changing variable types or excluding categories. You can

display or exclude categories with no counts for clearer

and more concise output. Or sort and rank categories

based on cell values for a neater, more informative table.

Get in-depth analyses

You can use SPSS Custom Tables as an analytical tool to

understand your data better and create tables that present

your results most effectively. Give your readers reports

that enable them to delve into the information and make

more informed decisions.

Highlight opportunities or problem areas in your results

when you include inferential statistics. Using inferential

test statistics with SPSS Custom Tables enables you to

compare means or proportions for demographic groups,

customer segments, time periods, or other categorical

variables. You can also identify trends, changes, or major

differences in your data.

A market researcher at a major publishing company, for

example, studies student ratings of college textbooks.

He notices a potential relationship between students at

private universities and low ratings for math textbooks.

The researcher runs a column proportions test with SPSS

Custom Tables. The test shows, at a 95 percent confidence

level, that there is a difference in math textbook ratings

between students at private and public universities.

Knowing that the confidence level for this difference is

high, and that it’s unlikely that the relationship is due to

chance, the researcher recommends that the publishing

company explore the reasons for the difference in ratings.

You can also select summary statistics, which include

everything from simple counts for categorical variables to

measures of dispersion. Summary statistics for categorical

variables and multiple response sets include counts and

a wide variety of percentage calculations, including

row, column, subtable, table, and valid N percentages.

Summary statistics for scale variables and custom total

summaries for categorical variables include mean, median,

percentiles, sum, standard deviation, range, and minimum

and maximum values. To focus on specific results, you can

sort categories by any summary statistic you used.

Apply inferential statistics to test the relationships between row and column variables. In this example, a proportions column test assigns a letter to each category of Region. For each pair of columns, the column proportions are compared using a z test (select from the “Test Statistics” tab). For each significant pair, the letter key of the smaller category is placed under the category with the larger proportion. You can also perform significance tests on multiple response variables.

“ It is a real timesaver to have an analytical tool like

SPSS Custom Tables that can not only quickly produce

tables, but produce them in a report-quality format that

I need. I can simply insert the tables into a client report

without the need for additional formatting.”

– Brian Robertson, PhD Director of Research Market Decisions

Control your table output

Many features in SPSS Custom Tables help you create tables

with the look you want and the time-saving capabilities

you need:

n Add titles and captions

n Use table expressions in titles

n Use SPSS Statistics Base features such as TableLooks™

and scripts to automate formatting and redundant tasks

n Specify minimum and maximum column widths for

individual tables during table creation

Share results more easily with others

Once you have results, you need to put them in the hands

of those who need them. SPSS Custom Tables enables

you to create results as interactive pivot tables, for export

to Word or Excel. This not only improves your workflow,

it saves time because you don’t have to reconfigure your

tables in Word or Excel. No editing is required after you

export your tables. You can, however, insert descriptive

content if you choose to.

Save time and effort by automating frequent reports

Do you regularly create reports that have the same

structure? Do you spend a lot of time updating reports

that you built in the past? Use syntax and automation

in SPSS Custom Tables to run frequently needed reports,

such as the compliance reports required for grant funding,

in production mode.

When you create a table, SPSS Custom Tables records every

click you make and saves your actions as syntax. To run an

automated report, you simply paste the relevant syntax

into a syntax window, then just click and go. With syntax

and automation, your report is ready without tedious and

time-consuming production.

Create multiple types of output

SPSS Custom Tables can produce a wide variety of

customized tables. Here are examples of three common

table types you may want to use when analyzing and

describing your data.

Two-dimensional crosstabulation: This example shows the relationship between two categorical variables, Age and Gender. Using Age as the row variable and Gender as the column variable, you can create a two-dimensional crosstab that shows the number of males and females in each age category.

Multiple response set: Multiple response sets use multiple variables to record responses to questions for which the respondent can give more than one answer. When asked the question, “Which of the following sources do you rely on for news,” respondents could select any combination of five possible choices. Notice that the percentages total more than 100 percent because each respondent may choose more than one answer. You can also perform significance tests on multiple response variables.

Shared response categories (comperimeter tables): Surveys often contain many questions that have a common set of possible responses. For example, the questions in this survey concern confidence in public and private institutions and services, and all have the same set of response categories: 1 = A great deal, 2 = Only some, and 3 = Hardly any. Use stacking to display these related variables in the same table—and display the shared response categories in the columns of the table.

Steps

Drag your desired variables to the table builder. As shown in this screen, you can preview the category list (lower left corner) before dragging the desired categories to the table.

1

Define the summary statistics or categories and totals. You can choose from more than 40 summary statistics.

2

All results are produced as SPSS Statisticspivot tables. You can apply TableLooksto your output for a more polished appearance. In addition, you can export output to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or HTML.

3

Create high-quality tables from SPSS Statistics data

With SPSS Custom Tables’ interactive table builder, creating professional-quality tables is easy to do.

This diagram shows you how.

FeaturesGraphical user interface ■ Simple, drag-and-drop table builder

interface enables you to preview tables

as you select variables and options

■ Single, unified table builder, instead of

multiple menu choices and dialog boxes

for different table types, makes building

tables easier

Control contents■ Create tables with up to three display

dimensions: Rows (stub), columns

(banner), and layers

■ Nest variables to any level in all dimensions

■ Crosstabulate multiple independent

variables in the same table

■ Display frequencies for multiple variables

side by side with tables of frequencies

■ Display all categories when multiple

variables are included in a table, even if a

variable has a category without responses

■ Display multiple statistics in rows, columns,

or layers

■ Place totals in any row, column, or layer

■ Create subtotals for subsets of categories

of a categorical variable

■ Customize your control over category

display order and selectively show or

hide categories

■ Better control how you display your data

using expanded category options:

– Sort categories by any summary statistic

in your table

– Hide the categories that comprise

subtotals—you can remove a category

from the table without removing it from

the subtotal calculation

Test statistics■ Select from these significance tests:

– Chi-square test of independence

– Comparison of column means (t test)

– Comparison of column proportions

(z test)

■ Select from these summary statistics:

Count, count row %, count column %, count

table %, count subtable %, layer %, count

table row %, count table column %, valid N

row %, valid N column %, valid N table %,

valid N subtable %, valid N layer %, valid N

table row %, valid N table column %, total

N row %, total N column %, total N table %,

total N subtable %, total N layer %, total N

table row %, total N table column %,

maximum, mean, median, minimum,

missing, mode, percentile, percentile 05,

percentile 25, percentile 75, percentile 95,

percentile 99, range, standard error (SE)

mean, standard deviation (SD), sum,

total N, valid N, variance, sum row %, sum

column %, sum table %, sum subtable %,

sum layer %, sum table row %, and sum

table column %

■ Calculate statistics for each cell, subgroup,

or table

■ Calculate percentages at any or all levels

for nested variables

■ Calculate counts and percentages for

multiple response variables based on

the number of responses or the number

of cases

■ Select percentage bases for missing values

to include or exclude missing responses

■ Exclude subtotal categories from

significance tests

■ Run significance tests on multiple

response variables

Formatting controls■ Directly edit any table element, including

formatting and labels

■ Sort tables by cell contents in ascending

or descending order

■ Automatically display labels instead

of coded values

■ Specify minimum and maximum width

of table columns (overrides TableLooks)

■ Show a name, label, or both for each

table variable

■ Display missing data as blank, zero, “.,”

or any other user-defined term, such as

“missing”

■ Set titles for pages and tables to be

multiple lines with left, right, or center

justification

■ Add captions for pages or tables

■ Specify corner labels

■ Customize labels for statistics

■ Display the entire label for variables,

values, and statistics

■ Format numerical results: Commas, date/

time, dollars, F (standard numeric),

negative parentheses, “N=,” parentheses

(around numbers of percentages),

percentages, and customized formats

■ Apply preformatted TableLooks to results

■ Define the set of variables that is related

to multiple response data and save it with

your data definition for subsequent analysis

■ Accepts both long- and short-string

elementary variables

■ Imposes no limit on the number of sets that

can be defined or the number of variables

that can exist in a set

■ All results are produced as SPSS Statistics

pivot tables so you can explore your results

more easily with the pivot feature

– Rearrange columns, rows, and layers by

dragging icons for easier ad hoc analysis

– Toggle between layers by clicking on

an icon for easier comparison between

subgroups

– Reset a table to its original organization

with a simple menu choice

– Rotate even the outermost nests in the

stub, banner, and layer to uncover

information that can be easily hidden in

large reports

Syntax■ Syntax converter translates syntax created

in versions earlier than SPSS Tables 11.5

into CTABLES syntax

Printing formats■ Print more than one table per page

■ Specify page layout: Top, bottom, left, and

right margins; page length

■ Use the global break command to produce

a table for each value of a variable when

the variable is used in a series of tables

System requirements■ Software: SPSS Statistics Base 17.0

■ Other system requirements vary according

to platform

To learn more, please visit www.spss.com. For SPSS office locations and telephone numbers, go to www.spss.com/worldwide.

SPSS is a registered trademark and the other SPSS products named are trademarks of SPSS Inc. All other names are trademarks of their respective owners. © 2008 SPSS Inc. All rights reserved. STB17BRO-0608

Features subject to change based on final product release.